Adjusting means for adjustable electrical components of the generic type, for example suited for manually adjusting electrical resistance potentiometers, rotary potentiometers, or variable capacitors used for changing electrical parameters of electrical circuit arrangements, are usually designed as control dials, thumbwheels, rotary switches, levers, mechanical switches, buttons, slide switches, or the like.
Adjusting means for addressing devices according to the above-cited patent applications are used primarily for adjusting the addressing of bus users in data transmission systems or of electrical consumers in switching or control systems, also in wireless modules, for example. These types of adjusting means are usually installed in externally accessible module elements of these systems to allow setting of the address. The address is typically set using rotary coding switches, dip switches, or slide switches which are accommodated on printed circuit boards. For setting the address code of the address to be set, a marking of a number or a number sequence is usually selected using an adjusting means designed as a thumbwheel, for example, whereby in the case of rotary coding switches a decimal number or hexadecimal number is typically set.
Adjusting means, in particular of electrical addressing devices, are usually provided with a detent means or a detent mechanism so that a user may precisely set and/or fix the position of the adjusting means, i.e., an address code.
The publication WO 2010/054854 A1 describes locking to an electrical terminal module having an addressing function, having an electrical adjustable component on a printed circuit board with a thumbwheel, situated thereabove as an adjusting means, for manually setting an address code. For locking the thumbwheel using a detent means, a cylindrical projecting engaging means which is able to engage in holes in the side face of the thumbwheel is mounted on the printed circuit board.
In these types of positive-fit locks, precise locking may be difficult, in particular when the adjusting means is moved very quickly, as the result of which the cylindrical engaging means cannot engage sufficiently quickly in the holes of the adjusting means. In addition, the reliable, precise address setting using this type of positive-fit lock requires particularly high manufacturing precision, in particular regarding the bearing of the adjusting means and the component tolerances.